SANTA CLARA — Here’s what stood out to me during Tuesday’s padded practice.

THE GOOD

1. Colin Kaepernick. His best practice of training camp. He was accurate on the short throws and the long ones for the most part. He finally hit Vance McDonald in stride deep down the middle of the field. Kaepernick had been overthrowing that pass to McDonald since last year’s training camp.

2. Chris Cook. Intercepted a deep throw intended for Brandon Lloyd. Lloyd had beaten Cook by a step, but Josh Johnson underthrew the pass, Cook undercut Lloyd, reached up and caught the ball. Lloyd made no attempt to make the catch.

3. Dontae Johnson. Drew an offensive pass interference penalty on Lloyd during a red-zone drill. Lloyd threw down Johnson in the corner of the end zone.

4. Vance McDonald. Caught a 30-yard pass and a 20-yard pass deep down the middle of the field. That was good. But he also dropped two passes. That was not so good.

5. Michael Crabtree. Caught a touchdown pass from Kaepernick in a red zone drill — Crabtree beat Perrish Cox with an inward breaking route on the play. Later, Crabtree scored a 30-yard touchdown from Kaepernick during a two-minute drill. Crabtree was not covered by anyone — it was a busted coverage. Crabtree has made at least one touchdown catch every day of training camp.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

1. Colin Kaepernick on third down. He had four chances to convert third downs and he converted none: Aldon Smith “sacked” him on third-and-eight, Kaepernick overthrew Stevie Johnson on third-and-six, Kaepernick scrambled for no gain on third-and-four and then he scrambled for no gain once more on third-and-two.

1. The starting cornerbacks. Tramaine Brock and Chris Culliver did not practice. Vic Fangio said each guy has a minor leg injury.

2. Jonathan Baldwin. Suited up but did not receive a single target during team drills. Baldwin has been practically invisible during camp — two catches and three drops. A.J. Jenknins never was this bad.

“2. Chris Cook. Intercepted a deep throw intended for Brandon Lloyd. Lloyd had beaten Cook by a step, but Josh Johnson underthrew the pass, Cook undercut Lloyd, reached up and caught the ball. Lloyd made no attempt to make the catch.”

Grant,
I think Barrows mentioned the other day that Baldwin didn’t seem to be practicing with a sense of urgency (almost like he’s dealing with an injury). I know there’s a lot of talent at WR and he’s basically buried on the depth chart, but you figured he would have a little more fire to him. Is that the sense you get as well when watching Baldwin?

Wow. I figured he would try to put forth more of an effort in camp, especially considering there’s likely not a lot of opportunities for him elsewhere. Since he won’t be making the 49ers squad, do you think this is the last we’ve seen of Baldwin in the NFL?

Grant how does Crabtree look on the sideline routes outside the numbers?
We keep hearing how he looks a couple steps quicker but do you see him getting separation faster on the deep routes or is he being used more in the slot?

Who among us didn’t know that the trade was just a smokescreen to allow either or both teams to cut their losses if and when they needed to. SF needs to and will. KC may keep AJJ as a #3. KC wins? Fine.
Given what little I’m reading about Baldwin I’m wondering if he’s mentally quit like T.Mays did. No football coach likes to see a guy put his head down. A youth coach is obligated to turn the kid around. HS & College is obligated to try. NFL is The Wilderness; survival of the fittest.

Agree. With the three acquisitions (Lloyd/SJ/Duke Ellington) Baldwin should have gotten a clue. Hit the weight room or hit the bong? It doesn’t matter that he won’t make this roster, he needed to be thinking past that to getting on the field in PreSeason to put some resume on tape.

Brutha Tuna: SF not KC has already won. They are able to release Baldwin with out taking a cap hit which would not have been possible if the had him on the roster today or had released AJ outright. KC is still sort of obligated to keep AJ on the roster for that very reason. He might at best give the production you can expect from a typical late rounder.